Beet Salad with Whipped Goat Cheese

Two years ago my girlfriends and I went to visit a friend in Chicago for a long week-end. Our first night in Chicago was really memorable. Well, first of all, let’s be honest, how often do you get to go on a long week-end with your girlfriends? With NO kids and NO husbands?  We were like teenagers again! We went to visit our friend Johanne and her husband, who we hadn’t seen in almost a year. On the first night, they brought us to a wonderful restaurant, the Purple Pig in the Magnificient Mile. It was a nice warm night at the beginning of the summer, we were sitting on the terrasse drinking nice wines and we had a beautiful view of Chicago and its amazing skyline. Everything was truly special, including this beet salad with whipped goat cheese and pistachios! The combination of airy and creamy goat cheese with sweet tart beets was to die for! The pistachios added a perfect little crunch to the dish and I just had to recreate it when I came home.

When I make a beet salad, I try to make it with yellow and red beets. I just love the color combination. I roast my beets in the oven, wrapped in foil. When I use 2 different color beets, I wrapped them separately as red beets tend to color everything they touch.

Beet Salad with Sherry Vinegar and Whipped Goat Cheese

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

75 mins

Total time

1 hour 25 mins

 

This recipe was inspired by a salad I had at the Purple Pig in Chicago.

Author: Valerie's Keepers

Serves: 4-6 portions

Ingredients

• 3 medium red beets
• 2 medium yellow beets
• 3 tbsp. sherry vinegar
• 1½ tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. shallots, finely chopped
• 125g soft goat cheese
• 1 tbsp. milk, more if needed
• ¼ cup pistachios, shelled and coarsly chopped
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 425 F.
2. Wrap beets in foil, tightly. Wrap the yellow and red beets separately.
3. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 60 to 75 minutes or until tender when pierced with a knife.
4. Unwrap beets and cool.
5. In a smal bowl, whish sherry vinegar, olive oil and shallots. Set aside.
6. Slip off skins from beets and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices. Transfer the yellow and red beets into two seperate bowls.
7. Pour half of the dressing onto the yellow beets and the remaining half onto the red beets, tossing to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Put the cheese in a small bowl. Mash with a fork. Add 1 tbs. of milk and wisk with fork until light and airy, adding more milk if needed. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Plate beets alternating colors.
10. Top with whipped goat cheese and sprinkle with pistachios.

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